May 3, 2012

By Julie Payne

Family Status: Widowed after 58 years of marriage to Junetta; five children, George, Linda, Naomi, Rebecca and Patricia; 12 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren

Harold Howell, 90, is deacon emeritus at Glynwood Baptist and has taught Sunday School for most of his life. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and received the Good Conduct Medal and the Purple Heart. He later retired as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He began practicing law in 1975 and continues to work at his law firm, Howell Sarto & Howell in Prattville. He also works with the Alabama Teen Challenge program.

Q: How did you come to know the Lord?

A: I was saved at age 16 at Calvary Baptist Church, Birmingham.

Q: How did you get involved in teaching Sunday School?

A: I started teaching Sunday School [at] age 19 and have taught ever since almost. When I got back from law school they made me a deacon and [I’ve] served as a deacon at every church I’ve ever belonged to. I was in Texas, Kansas, Albuquerque [New Mexico], Ohio, Japan, New Jersey [and] back to Alabama.

Q: What do you get from teaching Sunday School?

A: It strengthens my faith. To teach you have to really study it [the Bible] and learn it and it makes me a stronger Christian.

Q: What does your ministry demand?

A: That’s my life. That’s what the Lord told us to do. When you do it, you get joy out of it.

Q: What difference has Jesus Christ made in your life?

A: He’s made me into a different person. I grew up in a family that never went to church. There was no church in my house at all. … I got connected to Baptists when I was 12 years old.